Midcentury Names

The names of the 1940s, 50s and 60s — currently in the dead zone, too recent to read as vintage and too dated to read as current. This is the group to watch: the hundred-year rule says it is next.

Rankings for

38 names, very rare — fewer than 25 babies a year, in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Randolph Randolph means shield-wolf, and the shield in it is specifically the rim — the Germanic rand names the edge of the shield rather than the whole thing, which is the part that met an enemy's blade.
Boy English 20 in 2025
Thierry Thierry is a boy's name meaning ruler of the people, the French form of the Germanic Theodoric — and it is the same name as Terry, which reached English by a different route.
Boy French 19 in 2025
Jean-Luc Jean-Luc joins God is gracious to a name meaning from Lucania, an Italian region — so the second half is a place, not the light it is usually said to mean.
Boy French 19 in 2025
Debbie Debbie is a girl's name meaning bee, a pet form of Deborah.
Girl Hebrew 24 in 2025
Bill Bill comes from William, and the B is the point — medieval English made pet names by rhyming, which is why Will became Bill, Rob became Bob and Rick became Dick.
Boy English 18 in 2025
Sherry Sherry is a girl's name that appears to have been taken from the wine, whose own name is a corruption of the Spanish town Jerez.
Girl English 23 in 2025
Jill Jill is a girl's name, a medieval short form of Gillian, and it is half of the oldest surviving English nursery rhyme pair.
Girl English 21 in 2025
Janine Janine means God is gracious, a French elaboration of Jeanne, and it charts in three markets on very small numbers — 2683rd in Canada, 5880th in the United States, 7199th in France and 7480th in England and Wales.
Girl French 21 in 2025
Dianne Dianne means divine, from the Roman goddess of the hunt — and Diana was originally a woodland deity of the Latin countryside, identified with the Greek Artemis only later and never completely.
Girl English 21 in 2025
Glenda Glenda is a twentieth-century Welsh invention rather than a traditional name — it joins two ordinary Welsh adjectives, and it does not appear in the historical record before about 1900.
Girl Welsh 20 in 2025
Garry Garry means spear, and it reached English through a steel town — Gary, Indiana was named for a US Steel chairman, and the place name did more for the given name than any of its Germanic ancestors.
Boy English 15 in 2025
Rhonda Rhonda is a girl's name from a Welsh river valley, and the great spear reading usually given for it is wrong — the Rhondda is named for its own noisiness, not for a weapon.
Girl Welsh 19 in 2025
Terri Terri shortens Teresa, whose meaning has never been established — harvester, summer and a Greek island are all proposed and none of them is settled.
Girl English 19 in 2025
Chantal Chantal is a girl's name from an Occitan word for a stone or boulder, taken from a French place name — the singing reading everyone gives it comes from the French chanter and is wrong.
Girl French 19 in 2025
Didier Didier is a boy's name from a Latin name meaning longed for — and the Latin word behind it originally meant to await what the stars bring, which is where the English desire comes from.
Boy French 13 in 2025
Jean-Paul Jean-Paul joins God is gracious to a name meaning small — Paul was a Roman cognomen for a short man, so the compound sets a statement about God beside a physical nickname.
Boy French 12 in 2025
Marsha Marsha is a phonetic respelling of Marcia, and the name underneath is dedicated to Mars — the same god who gives his name to March, when the Roman year and the campaigning season both began.
Girl English 14 in 2025
Sheryl Sheryl respells Cheryl, which is itself a twentieth-century invention — it appears in American records around 1920 with no traceable parent, and the meanings offered for it were supplied afterwards.
Girl American 13 in 2025
Jean-Pierre Jean-Pierre is a boy's name joining John and Peter, and it is the most-used hyphenated compound on this site — a French naming pattern treated as one indivisible name, with no real equivalent in English.
Boy French 10 in 2025
Serge Serge is a boy's name from a Roman family name of unknown meaning, and it is also a cloth — the twilled fabric is named from the same Latin word for silk, by a separate route.
Boy French 9 in 2025
Gail Gail is a girl's name meaning my father rejoices, clipped from Abigail.
Girl Hebrew 12 in 2025
Cathy Cathy is a girl's name, a pet form of Catherine whose meaning has never been established.
Girl Greek 12 in 2025
Sue Sue means lily, shortened from Susan, and it is one of the steepest falls in our data — from 5,306 American births in 1947 to 11, a decline by a factor of roughly 482.
Girl English 11 in 2025
Jocelyne Jocelyne is the French feminine of a name that began as a man's — the Germanic Gauzlin, built on the tribal name of the Gauts, the people Beowulf belongs to.
Girl French 11 in 2025
Véronique Véronique is a girl's name meaning true image, the French form of Veronica. It holds 237,412 recorded births and does not currently chart in any of the six markets we track, while the English form still charts in four.
Girl French 10 in 2025
Janis Janis fell further than any name in this sweep — 3,217 American births in 1947 down to 10 in the most recent year we hold, which is a fall of more than 99 percent.
Girl American 10 in 2025
Carole Carole is a girl's name meaning free man, the French spelling of Carol.
Girl French 9 in 2025
Bob Bob comes from Robert, and the B is not a corruption but a system — medieval English made pet names by rhyming, which is why Rob gave Bob, Will gave Bill and Rick gave Dick.
Boy English 7 in 2025
Jacky Jacky is 98 percent male in our records, which is the reverse of the English Jackie — France took it as a boy's name and kept it, while English-speaking countries made it a woman's.
Boy French 11 in 2025
Martine Martine is a girl's name meaning of Mars, the French feminine of Martin.
Girl French 8 in 2025
Shari Shari means a plain, if it comes from Sharon — the Hebrew names the fertile coastal strip of Israel, so the rose of Sharon is a region's flower rather than a person's.
Girl Hebrew 8 in 2025
Teri Teri descends from a name with no agreed meaning — Theresa has been traced to a Greek island, to a word for summer and to one for hunting, and none of the three has carried the field.
Girl English 7 in 2025
Patti Patti and Patty peaked one year apart at almost exactly the same size — 3,121 births in 1958 and 3,123 in 1959 — which is about as close as two spellings of one name get in our records.
Girl English 6 in 2025
Sheri Sheri means darling, and it is French by way of a misreading — English took the adjective chérie as though it were a name, which is why it has no history as one in France itself.
Girl American 6 in 2025
Daniele Daniele means God is my judge, and it is masculine in Italy and feminine in France — the same spelling, opposite sexes, and our records are 99 percent female because the French use dominates.
Girl French 6 in 2025
Lynne Lynne now ranks 2155th in France and 14047th in the United States, so a name that peaked in America at 2,471 births ranks far higher in a country that barely used it.
Girl Welsh 6 in 2025
Josiane Josiane means God will add, a French feminine built on Joseph, and its 1948 peak of 6,775 French births has left almost nothing behind — it now ranks 6905th in France.
Girl French 6 in 2025
Patty Patty belonged to Martha before it belonged to Patricia — the pet form was reassigned in the twentieth century, one of several nicknames in English that quietly changed parents.
Girl English 5 in 2025

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A style is our reading of a name. A decade is the register — the names children were actually given, in order, with the counts.

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